I disagree.... I actually was thinking when they first released.... Why 2Gb's Its really not needed for the majority of us. Even at 1920x1080 we don't need that much. As far as the newer PCB.... I don't like it. That part does look cheaper. But this does open up an interesting upgrade option to those with a 6870/6850 and doesn't want to pay an arm and a leg for an extra gb of memory that we don't need.

What's the price difference between the 6950 2GB, 6950 1gb and 6870 going to be? If 6950 2GB is $300, and 6870 is $250 that doesn't leave a lot of room for pricing this new card. If it's only a few dollars more than a 6870, then AMD will be destroying sales of that card and if the 2gb card is only a few dollars more than the 1gb one then everyone will buy that one instead. Even if AMD does a price drop now it's going to be hard to see how this new card is going to establish a niche for itself.

So let's assume they split the difference and price it at $275 but the performance is similar to the 2gb model, then it will be hurting sales of the 2gb card because everyone will buy the cheaper one, and if it vastly outperforms 6870 for only $25 more then it will steal sales from that card, too. Whether you look at it from a price perspective or a performance perspective, this new card is going to hurt sales of the existing ones.

I also don't understand why Sapphire is going with a non-reference cooler but NOT the Vapor-X/Toxic one. If they thought the 6870 got hot enough for external exhaust, what makes them think this is going to run any cooler?

I have a mini-atx case and have about 9.5" for a video card.. my Radeon 4850 fits perfectly. I noticed the 6950 2gb models are 10.5" which means all new case and transplanting everything. is the 1gb model smaller dimensions? I've noticed the 6850 use a smaller PCB. also the 560ti is around 9" stock...

I disagree.... I actually was thinking when they first released.... Why 2Gb's Its really not needed for the majority of us. Even at 1920x1080 we don't need that much. As far as the newer PCB.... I don't like it. That part does look cheaper. But this does open up an interesting upgrade option to those with a 6870/6850 and doesn't want to pay an arm and a leg for an extra gb of memory that we don't need.

I will wait to see benches to make up my mind for sure.

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I would agree with you in the sense that the 6950 is probably not considered the card for people who play at 2560 resolution.
But for those who do try it, that 2GB would still make a noticeable difference.

Additionally, two 6950 in Crossfire, is a hot setup at the moment, especially with the shader unlock option.

They should have just released a 6950 with 1gb and called it something OTHER than 6950. Sure, us nerds would have figured out it's a gimped 6950, but for consumers it would have kept thing simple.

6940(??)> 6950> 6970

Second thought: Maybe they're going to obsolete the 6950 2GB and for multiple reasons try to bridge the gap between itself and the 6970 (current flagship). They dump the 2GB model, lower production costs with the 1GB version, and most consumers are none the wiser.